[Today’s post comes to us courtesy of Damian Leibaschoff from Commercial Technical Support]

The Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool allows you to collect and send information about your computer to Microsoft Support as part of a support request (more info on MSDT). When opening a new support incident, you should receive an email similar to this:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft; we appreciate your continued business and the opportunity to assist you with your inquiry.  Your Service Request nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn has been created and is being routed to the appropriate Support Engineer at this time. You will be contacted by an assigned Engineer regarding this Service Request.
To allow us to better support your Service Request, we strongly recommend that you run the provided Diagnostic Data Collector which will provide Microsoft with additional information about your issue.
From the computer which is having the problem related to this SR and is connected to the internet:

• Please click the web link below or copy and paste the HTTP line below into your Internet browser's address bar and follow the provided prompts. This will enable Microsoft to collect information pertinent to your request.

    NOTE: The link below expires on nn/nn/nnnn.
    https://support.microsoft.com/Dcode/Default.aspx?guid=111111111111111111111

Thank you,
Microsoft Commercial Technical Support

If you don’t receive this email, ask the support engineer working your case to send you a Data Collection Request. If you do get the email, try to complete the collection and upload as soon as possible, even before talking to the support engineer as it will potentially help resolve your case faster.

Let’s focus on the brand new SBS 2008 collection and diagnostics package that was introduced in September 2010 and share what is going on behind the scenes. The first thing to note is that there is much more than just data collection, there is also a great deal of automated analysis taking place. Furthermore all of these logs and reports are uploaded and presented to not only the support engineer working your case, but also technical leads, subject matter experts and technical mentors, creating a single, easy to access repository, with the most relevant data to help get the fastest possible resolution to the current issue.

This is a high level overview of what is collected and analyzed:

• Subset of key Setup, Performance, Directory Services and Networking logs and output
• Collects event logs for the last n days (All, 5, 14, 30)
• MsInfo32 Output (nfo and txt)
• Sysinternal’s Autoruns Output
• Collects and Analyzes SBS Setup logs against known issues, displays them in main report page.
• Extract SBS Setup errors
• Deploys (if not present), updates (if needed) and runs the SBS 2008 BPA.
• Processes results from the BPA and displays them in main results page.
• Collects SBS logs, including the last day of IIS logs for SBS web sites.
• HTML Formatted output for:
  • Autoruns
  • Dump configuration and presence report
  • GpResult
  • Hotfixes/Updates
  • Print Subsystem report
  • System Performance report
  • Performance information for top processes
  • RSOP Report
  • Virtualization Report

If you want to read more about the data collection, check:

2414539     [SDP 2][BD3BAB8D-1593-4864-9363-36B61D032F5B]     Windows Small Business Server 2008 All-purpose data collection and analysis
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2414539

If you want to take a peek at the data collected and some of the reports before they are uploaded, you can view them by either saving the files locally or viewing the files. You can access these options right before sending the results on the last page of the MSDT wizard.

Below are some examples of the reports generated by the SBS 2008 MSDT manifest:

[Today’s post comes to us courtesy of Robert Paige from the Windows Server Partner Ecosystem Team]

We wanted to resurface a continuing support issue with deployments that we first commented on back in December of 2009, and again in a March post on the Microsoft Enterprise Networking Team Blog. After a very encouraging decrease in support incidents traced to this issue, we’ve seen an upward trend again for the same issue – perhaps a reminder will reverse the trend!

Solution

If you are running certain older versions of Symantec Endpoint Protection or Symantec Antivirus, you can get the solution from Symantec. Symantec confirms that this is a known issue and there are updates to resolve the problem. For more information, please see the Symantec Knowledge Base article about this issue . For information about Symantec support for Endpoint Protection 11, visit the Symantec Support site. (http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index.jsp)

Please note: If you are unable to upgrade promptly or remove the software, Symantec urges you to contact their technical support to determine if there are any workarounds available to you.

Problem Indications

While the error messages are not specific to this issue, and can often have other unrelated causes, versions of Symantec Endpoint Protection prior to version 11.0.4202 or Symantec Antivirus 10.2 on a Windows Server can cause these connectivity problems. The real frustration can be the difficulty in determining that the root cause may be due to these third-party products; the intermittent loss of productivity and reliability of client connections to the server often results in costly and time-consuming investigations. To make the matter even more frustrating, it does not happen immediately after installation of the security software, the interoperability issue can sometimes happen weeks after deployment.

• Symantec Endpoint Protection versions prior to 11.0.4202 (MR4-MP2). Older versions of Symantec Symantec Antivirus (prior to 10.2) can also cause this problem. The problem occurs when you have the Autoprotect feature enabled in the applications.
• The problem can affect 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2, including Windows Small Business Server 2003, Windows Small Business Server 2008, and Windows Essential Business Server 2008.
• The problem is intermittent, can affect client connectivity within hours to up to a week after installing the applications. Usually a server reboot will restore connectivity for a short period before the problem happens again. You generally are able to ping and RDP to the server when the issue occurs, but shares are inaccessible using either \\IPADDRESS or \\ServerName\Share operations.
• The problem results from a deadlock in SRTSP.SYS or SRTSP64.SYS in a push lock operation, which then causes blocked kernel mode server threads handling SMB negotiation requests. Network traces will show the server not responding to the SMB dialect packet.

Here are the most common symptoms you may experience that may help you diagnose this issue. Note that if you have this software installed, the easiest troubleshooting step to determine if this is the cause of connectivity issues is to simply remove the software and reboot the server.

• Error message: “The network path was not found” or “The specified network name is no longer available” when attempting to open shares, map a drive, run DCDIAG to the to the affected server, use netdom to reset secure channel
• Error message: “RPC Server is unavailable” when trying to connect via Active Directory Users and Computers
• Error message: “RPC Server is too busy to process the request” when attempting to join the Windows server domain
• Error message: “No network provider accepted the given network path” or “File or network path no longer exists” when copying a file over the network to affected servers
• Printing issues (cannot update printer IP address via DNS)
• AD replication failures
• Cluster service fails to start, or inability to access existing File Share resources even if they are online according to the Cluster Administrator snap-in
• Event log Event ID 4226 and or 2022 may occur frequently (up to every 20 to 30 seconds)

More Information

KB 961293 Unable to access Shares "The specified network name is no longer available" when Symantec Endpoint Protection prior to 11.0.4202 (MR4-MP2) or Symantec Antivirus 10.2 are installed on a Windows 2003, 2008 or 2008 R2 Server

KB 961654 A file sharing connection to a Windows Server 2008-based server drops unexpectedly if the server has Symantec Endpoint Protection prior to 11.0.4202 (MR4-MP2) or Symantec Antivirus 10.2 installed

KB 948732 Network shares become unresponsive after some time on a Windows Server 2003 or 2008 or 2008 R2-based-based computer running Symantec Endpoint Protection prior to 11.0.4202 (MR4-MP2) or Symantec Antivirus 10.2, and you receive an error message

KB 923360 You may experience various problems when you work with files over the network on a Windows Server 2003-based or Windows 2000 Server-based computer

All of the articles also refer to the Symantec Knowledge Base article about the issue, including information about how you can obtain the fix.

Beginning in early October, Microsoft will offer small business customers the opportunity to install Microsoft Security Essentials on up to 10 PCs in their network for FREE. For more details, check out the following announcement from the Microsoft Partner SMB Community Blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2010/09/22/announcing-microsoft-security-essentials-available-free-to-small-businesses-in-october.aspx

I am very pleased to announce that Windows Small Business Server “7”  (SBS7) Public Preview is available for download.

Built on Windows Server® 2008 R2, this exciting new edition of  the all-in-one solution server for small businesses  will include Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010 SP1, Microsoft SharePoint® Foundation 2010, and Windows Software Update Services. Small business customers will find significant security and management enhancements over previous versions, as well as much richer features for providing file-and-print, email and Internet services to employees.

Together with Windows SBS code name “Aurora”, available to download here since August the 16th, SBS7 is dedicated to providing small business customers with a highly manageable, low complexity solution to help cut costs, save time and be more efficient.   SBS7 offers on premise email and collaboration suite functionalities that Aurora’s customers can add through online services.

SBS7 also offers a great opportunity for small businesses with prior versions to upgrade their servers and to simultaneously take advantage of the advancements in security, reliability, and connectivity technology. For this reason, SBS7 offers enhanced migration tools, extensive pre-migration checks, and prescriptive guidance included in the software.

Furthermore, with SBS7, small businesses gain the freedom to securely access all of their communications from virtually any Web-browser or mobile device -- getting more done wherever they are with the integrated Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft Outlook® Web Access (OWA) capabilities.

Customers using SBS7 will also have the opportunity to view, edit, and share Microsoft Office documents online with SharePoint Foundation 2010 and Microsoft Office Web Apps. As the online companion to Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel(R), Microsoft PowerPoint(R), and Microsoft OneNote(R), Office Web Apps gives users the freedom to access documents from virtually anywhere.

To learn more about Windows Small Business Server “7”, you can visit our SBS site.

The preview release is available on our Connect site and can be downloaded now.  If you haven’t already signed up for the preview, you can visit our Connect site and get signed up.  We have also setup a Connect feedback form to capture your reaction to the product, bugs and suggestions as well as a newsgroup where you can discuss the preview with other beta testers.

All the pieces are in place, so don’t wait any longer. Download the preview and start testing with us!

Kevin Kean
General Manager
Windows Home and Small Business Server team

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Shawn Sullivan from Commercial Technical Support]

This is an issue that we see customers run into from time to time and usually causes a lot of confusion and worry as to what the cause is, not to mention that it’s quite painful to lose important data. There are several reasons why data inside a public folder could become deleted, but if it’s happening to the same folder over and over again within a certain number of days, then almost certainly age limits have been enforced on the folder.

Note: Public Folder age limits refer life of the content inside the folders and not the life of the folder itself. There is no parameter for you to configure to have the folders themselves deleted automatically.

When dealing with Public Folder age limits, there are three settings that we need to be concerned with:

• Age limit for all folders in the public folder database (days), which equates to the ItemRetentionPeriod parameter specified on the Public Folder Database
• Use database age defaults, which equates to the UseDatabaseAgeDefaults parameter specified on the individual folder.
• Age limit for replicas (days), which equates to the AgeLimit parameter also specified on the individual folder.

We do not impose age limits at either the database or public folder level on a default installation of SBS 2008. The age limit is set to unlimited on the database itself and all folders you create within the database will use the database defaults. If you choose to, however, you can override this.

Important: When an age limit in days is specified using the parameters above, then the applicable content that has reached the limit will be deleted during the normal online database maintenance each morning at 2:00 am. The content is permanently removed from the database, it is not retained in deleted items. To recover it you must restore it from backup.

Verifying Settings

To verify the age limit specified at the database level using the Exchange Management Console, expand Server Configuration > Mailbox > Second Storage Group, open the properties of the Public Folder Database and click on the Limits tab. The age limit option is unchecked by default:

Using PowerShell, run Get-PublicFolderDatabase | fl Name,ItemRetentionPeriod. The parameter is set to unlimited by default:

To verify the settings on the folders themselves using the Public Folder Management Console, expand Default Public Folders, open the properties of the folder (right-click on the folder displayed in the middle pane) and click on the Limits tab. Use database age defaults is checked by default, which will disable the option to set a specific limit for the replica:

Using PowerShell, run Get-PublicFolder “\<folder>” | fl Name,UseDatabaseAgeDefaults,AgeLimit where <folder> is the name of the folder. If you are querying a subfolder, you would use “\<parentfolder>\<folder>”. UseDatabaseAgeDefaults is set to True and AgeLimit is disabled by default:

If you have a large hierarchy of public folders, you can use Exchange Powershell to export a list of each public folder and its settings to a text file for review. To do this, run the following command:

Get-PublicFolder “\” –Recurse | fl Name,AgeLimit,UseDatabaesAgeDefaults > List.txt

In this simple example, I have Public Folders “One” and “Two”. If “One” is set to default and “Two” has been configured to retain items for 7 days, then my output would look like this:

[PS] C:\Windows\System32>Get-PublicFolder "\" -Recurse | fl Name,AgeLimit,UseDatabaseAgeDefaults

Name : IPM_SUBTREE
AgeLimit :
UseDatabaseAgeDefaults : True

Name : One
AgeLimit :
UseDatabaseAgeDefaults : True

Name : Two
AgeLimit : 7.00:00:00
UseDatabaseAgeDefaults : False

Returning to Default Settings

If you find that age limits have been unintentionally enforced within the hierarchy and you wish to quickly revert all folders back to default, you can do so by running the following commands in sequence:

Get-PublicFolderDatabase | Set-PublicFolderDatabase –ItemRetentionPeriod Unlimited

Get-PublicFolder "\" -Recurse | Set-PublicFolder –UseDatabaseAgeDefaults $True

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of David Copeland from Commercial Technical Support]

The configuration file for the SBS 2003 BPA has been updated with new rules. Some of the new checks include:

• Check for IP restrictions set on the SMTP virtual server
• Updated check for the OS DST update
• Updated checks for WSUS Service Pack level
• Check to see if the newer version of samsrv.dll is installed
• Check to see if the Exchange organization is at the Exchange 2007 level, but the administrative group is missing
• Check for WSUS deadlines
• Check for legacy (NT v4.0) domain controllers
• Check to ensure Administrators group is trusted for delegation
• Check to ensure the primary group for the Administrator account is Domain Users

You can check to ensure that you have the latest version of the configuration file by clicking on the About the Best Practices Analyzer link on the left. This should show the Configuration File Version as 2.1.39.0. (as of 9/7/2010)

The configuration file for the SBS 2008 BPA has been updated with new rules. Some of the new checks include:

• Check for the existence of a web.config file under the Rpcproxy directory
• Check for the Rpcwithcert virtual directory’s authentication method
• Check for the existence of the /RPC virtual directory on the default web site
• Check to detect whether the Internet Address Management wizard (IAMW) has been run
• Check to determine if IE’s enhanced security has been disabled on the server for Administrators
• Check to determine if IE’s enhanced security has been disabled on the server for users
• Updates to checks for the BackConnectionHostNames registry value
• Updated text for the check to determine if running in a virtual machine
• Check to ensure the Administrators group has logon as a batch job right
• Updated text if the Windows SBS User Group policy is modified
• Check for SSL client settings not being default on the /EWS virtual directory
• Check for SSL client settings not being default on the /autodiscover virtual directory
• Check for SSL client settings not being default on the /RPC virtual directory
• Check for SSL client settings not being default on the /OWA virtual directory
• Check for SSL client settings not being default on the /OAB virtual directory
• Check for SSL client settings not being default on the root of the SBS Web Applications site
• Check for large WSUS Administration web site logging directory
• Check for large SBS Monitoring database
• Check for Kernel mode Authentication being enabled
• Updated check for Windows SBS Update Rollup being installed

You can check to ensure that you have the latest version of the configuration file by clicking on the About the Best Practices Analyzer link on the left. This should show the Configuration File Version as 2.1.60.0. (as of 9/7/2010)